2.22.2007

i'm sitting here watching nbc's heroes (episode 13: the fix). matt parkman, the fella who can read minds, finally gets to the piont where he's ready to tell his wife about his power. like any "normal" person she reacts with disbelief until he proves it to her by relaying her thoughts to her.

a few scenes later, he turns on the water in the bathroom to troubled water flow and responds to his wife's thoughts with, "i know, i'll call a plumber today."

she asks, "are you always gonna be in my head?"

he replies desperately, feeling the stress of having a supernatural power and not really understanding it. "i can't control it!"

she answers back in a way that only someone who knows you intimately and never shies away from challenging you powerfully, can. "can't, or won't control it?"

i'm reminded of the many times in my married life when jen has challenged me in ways that i didn't expect. i have a strong "tendency" though some could call it a habit, of getting caught up in something more intensely than i should. for example, if i were in officer parkman's shoes, i'd be feeling pretty sorry for myself; being a victim of kidnapping and having these things happening to me that i don't understand. jen commonly responds as parkman's wife did. she holds me to a standard that i don't always feel like being held to, but ultimately appreciate. she loves me too much to let me wallow in myself. and even though her challenges are rarely what i want to hear, she respects me enough to treat me like a man, even when i want to be coddled like a baby.